Skates too sharp

I recently got my skates sharpened up and they are way too sharp. Since I'm a beginner I'm having a hard time stopping with them. I've heard a few guys say to scrape them over a piece of wood, but a few guys have advised against it. Any opinions on how to dull them?

Also,

For future reference, what do I say to the skate sharpener guy the next time I go to get them sharpened? I've looked at different threads and they all use measurements (1/2", 3/8") but i have no idea whatsoever on how to "read" those measurements. Care to give an explanation?

I would not advise you to try to dull your skates using a piece of wood or plastic. While it may dull your skates it will probably be uneven and even then dulling them is not what the problem is anyway.

You need to change your skate bladed Radius of hollow. This is how deep or shallow the cut of you skate blade is. the deeper the hollow the more bite it has(it will feel sharper). the shallower the hollow the more glide and less bite it will have( it will feel duller).

The skates will eventually get dull the more you skate on them; the amount of time may vary from individual to individual.

Some may recommend that you take a copper penny (I believe it needs to be prior to 1968 or have a wheat leaf on it) and lightly rub the penny (on the flat side of the penny) along the length of your blade to slightly dull the edges.

While you might have an easier time stopping on your skates when they are dull, you might be losing some valuable edge control since the edges are dull and might feel like your edges are slipping a bit.

The cut that is fairly common is 1/2" on skates, but it obviously varies from person to person. For someone getting started, I would say that a 1/2" is good place to start. Going with a smaller cut, say 3/8", you will feel like you can make tighter turns, but you may lose a bit of stability.

Hopefully this information is helpful, I too am a beginner, so hopefully I am correct with this information.

Speaking of which, how much time/usage does it take to dull a skate blade? Are we talking days, weeks...

Depends on how much and how hard you skate on them. I can get away with about 2 weeks or so before my skates start slipping out from under me. That includes 2 stick times, and maybe 10 hours of public skate during that time. It's all personal preference though. You'll start to know when they need to be sharpened.

To jlnjcb: How many times have you skated on that sharpness? If you've only skated a time or two with it, personally, I would suggest giving it a few more skates if possible. When I was first learning to skate the first few sharpenings I got were pretty dull (didn't notice at the time). When I got a quality 1/2" cut for the first time I nearly snapped my ankle and broke my neck on my first hockey stop attempt on the new blades. Since then I've gotten used to the sharpness and love it, I don't even think of them as particularly sharp anymore.

To jlnjcb: How many times have you skated on that sharpness? If you've only skated a time or two with it, personally, I would suggest giving it a few more skates if possible. When I was first learning to skate the first few sharpenings I got were pretty dull (didn't notice at the time). When I got a quality 1/2" cut for the first time I nearly snapped my ankle and broke my neck on my first hockey stop attempt on the new blades. Since then I've gotten used to the sharpness and love it, I don't even think of them as particularly sharp anymore.

I've skated probably 4 hours worth with it being "too sharp". The thing that annoys me the most is I can't stop with them. Everything else is pretty much fine.

I get a 7/16 cut and if I dont have a session or two before a game to wear em down I will use the metal door handle at the benches as a way to help speed up the process. Works perfect for me =]

Also to the part of stopping, I am the same way at first when they are fresh cut thats why I gotta wear em down before a game. They catch too much for my liking/style of play, learned that the hard way first time I got that cut and didn't get in any stick sessions before a game.

I get a 7/16 cut and if I dont have a session or two before a game to wear em down I will use the metal door handle at the benches as a way to help speed up the process. Works perfect for me =]

Also to the part of stopping, I am the same way at first when they are fresh cut thats why I gotta wear em down before a game. They catch too much for my liking/style of play, learned that the hard way first time I got that cut and didn't get in any stick sessions before a game.

Probably so, I am going for a 1/2 next sharp but thats mostly because a guy Im gonna use now can only do that. I really like the 7/16 besides how sharp it as at first like I said. Besides that I have no performance issues because of the cut.